Welch took to the Senate floor to demand Noem resign or be fired
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today called for the resignation of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, citing Secretary Noem’s mishandling of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and record of undermining FEMA’s work, as well as her handling of President Trump’s cruel and illegal mass deportation campaign.
“The Department of Homeland Security has a simple but extremely important mission: keep Americans safe. Under that mission, the department is tasked with two critical jobs—border security and disaster response. Our current Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, has failed both. In her short tenure, Secretary Noem has overstepped, underperformed, and endangered the lives of countless Americans,” said Senator Welch. “I believe it is time for Secretary Noem to resign or for her to be fired.”
Watch Senator Welch’s floor remarks here:
Read key excerpts of Senator Welch’s remarks:
“Secretary Noem has undermined FEMA’s work, and in so doing has endangered disaster victims. Just a few months ago, Secretary Noem said in a cabinet meeting, and I quote ‘We are eliminating FEMA.’ And she meant it.
“And we saw evidence of that in not just Texas, but in North Carolina, New Mexico, California, Kentucky, Hawaii, and Vermont—where FEMA is crucial to helping people, and communities, and businesses recover from disaster. We need FEMA. It’s only the federal government that can surge into affected communities. We can’t lose that function and that capacity. When you need safety from a flood, and when you need to start the long road to recovery, you need the support of the federal government. No state, no community can do this alone. They cannot do this alone.
“I have seen from our experience in Vermont that FEMA, in fact, must be reformed—it must not be destroyed, as Secretary Noem has suggested. We cannot have a leader in charge of FEMA that is committed to its destruction. We must have one who is energetically committed to its reform.”
• • •
“We are seeing under the leadership of Secretary Noem that her response is an across-the-board embarkation on a massive and far-reaching deportation plan. There is no distinction in her policy among those who were brought here as children, who have families, who have jobs, who pay taxes, and who serve their communities.
“And there is a big difference between deporting known criminals and rounding up immigrants—some of whom have status to be here, in fact, are here legally—from work sites, and schools, and churches. This mass deportation policy is not about serving America and doing what our country needs to be strong and safe. It is instead about Secretary Noem accumulating the highest possible headcount of deportees. It’s hurting those folks, their families, and their communities, of course.
“It’s also hurting America. Particularly rural America. Our farmers depend on labor to milk their cows, to pick their crops. It’s weakening our construction industry, where workplace raids are shutting down construction sites, including for low-income housing, which we desperately need. This is decimating our health care workforce and the hospitality industry in every state in the union.
“We need a Homeland Security Secretary who will help us develop a sensible policy for folks who are here without status but have no criminal record; work; who have families; and are taxpayers.”
• • •
“We have an obligation to protect the safety of the families that all of us represent. I urge every one of my colleagues to demand better for our constituents and for every American. We need a Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security who puts public safety and preparedness before her personal image or political aspirations. Secretary Noem must resign.”
###